A new anime-influenced cartoon series of Thundercats is in development and targeted for a release on the airwaves later this year.
First debuting in the 1980s and making a mark in the minds of impressionable kids, Thundercats centered on a group of human-like cat people led by the lion-like Lion-O that fought bad guys on their home world. In the 21st century version, the Thundercats will fight adversaries for control of the Stones of Power.
The characters seen in the image above are the aforementioned Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Panthro and the lady Cheetara. WB is promising that with the new techniques in animation developed since the creation of the Thundercats, the characters will be able to flow with more lifelike, catlike movements.
The executive producers on the new Thundercats are Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold). Michael Jelenic (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Wonder Woman) and Ethan Spaulding (Avatar: The Last Airbender). The series is being produced by Studio4°C.
I was never a Thundercats viewer back in the day. I was always a Transformers cartoon kid.
So they're cat people, that's the hook? And they all look like the human version of a specific big cat from our planet?
When's the M.A.S.K. revival happening?
Patrick Sauriol wrote:
So they're cat people, that's the hook? And they all look like the human version of a specific big cat from our planet?
I guess; I was pretty easy to please as a child, but I was never really that taken by 'Thundercats'. It's as generic a fantasy/sci-fi cartoon concept as it sounds, I think. Cat People. Each character is based off a different species of big cat. Lion-O is the alpha male, and he has a sword that has the Thundercats symbol on its hilt, and when the episode is nearing its climax he would hold up the sword and shout, "Thunder! THUNDER! THUNDERCATS, HO!!" (or something like that; it seemed clearly taken from 'He-Man' and his "I have the power!" exclamation) Anyway, the sword would get bigger with each "Thunder!", and the Thundercats symbol would shine up into the sky like the Bat Symbol, and the other Thundercats would all come running while the 'Thundercats' theme played (typically, the other Thundercats had all been defeated and incapacitated one by one prior to this, but they would all revive themselves and/or break free of whatever constraints were on them when they saw the Thundercats symbol in the sky). And that's pretty much the entire show in a nutshell. They had a really cool home base shaped like a big cat, which was a popular toy one year, and Panthro drove a badass cat-car, which was also a popular toy. Also, Mumm-Ra is their reoccuring villain, who looked somewhat like a mummy with a cloak. When it was time for him to fight, he would yell out some spiel about how, "Ancient forces of evil, transform this decaying body into Mumm-Ra, the ever living!" or something like that, and he would get bigger and more muscular.
The hook is Star Wars + He-Man + Big Cats. Also, it had the Rankin Bass art style--even if the animation was tailored for quick TV production.
The voice acting could be terrible.
If you were under ten and a boy during its original run, chances are it was up your alley. It was up mine. I have a pretty big alley, though.
Don't forget Snarf!!!
Quasar wrote:
Don't forget Snarf!!!
Yeah, I did totally forget Snarf. He's basically the Snooky of the show. He's comparable to that little wizard guy from 'He-Man'.
Orko. It was originally something else, but they changed it to "Orko" so the first letter would be an O. An O reversed is still an O, and he had an O on his costume. Most of the costumes for He-Man were designed to be symmetrical so that the images could be flipped.
They should've named him Otto.
In Finland, Ottos hand out cash. I bet He-Man would like a wizard who gave out cash. By the power of Grayskull, I hope he remembers his pin number...Quasar wrote:
They should've named him Otto.
I was on this page and watched the TV-Walrus, went to go find the above image, and when I came back, Goiter's post had changed to this:
That's how much he paid as a child, and he'll be damned if he ever pays a cent more!
That Finnish Otto looks more like an Auto(bot). More specifically, it looks like Bumblebee's head.
He-Man had no need for money. There weren't that many places he could stuff it, anyway. His crotch area was already occupied by a couple of rolled up socks.
I'm still seeing the Onkel Otto video in my post.
So apparently Tygra was tired of being nobody's favorite and decided to start packing a gun...
I was gong to post a video of the 'Thundercats' opening theme, but I decided 'The Gummi Bears' was way better.
"Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose!"
I always wanted to say "Thundercats are on the loose," then I had nowhere to go with the rhyme, because I couldn't rhyme loose with loose. So eventually I just conceded to "Thundercats are on the loose, Thundercats drink juice!"
How about "Thundercats are on the loose, no one here's a moose?"
I know a shark named Bruce?
Cheetara's got caboose?
Let's ride down the sluice?
Thundercats are on the loose, that I can deduce.
Thundercats are on the loose, bad guys will vamoose.
Thundercats are on the loose, Mumm-ra is a duece.
Thundercats are on the loose, will they reproduce?
Thundercats are on the loose, they all use hair moose.
When I was a kid, Thundercats was the one show that I made sure I never missed. Of course, I was in that boy under ten demographic that Goiter mentioned. I doubt that it will have the same effect on me 30 years later.
Technically it didn't have to rhyme, it just kind of did. The actual first couple lines are:
"Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose!
Feel the magic, hear the roar, Thundercats are loose!"
Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats!"
Mmmm...Cheetara...was always sexier than Smurfette.
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Jack S. Pharaoh
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Posted: 13 years 14 weeks ago
I don't see Mumm-Ra in that picture, but the guy with the whip is Tygra, I think.